Tini Howard ends Marvel exclusive and makes her DC return this November

Tini Howard (Image credit: Tini Howard)

One of Marvel's core X-writers Tini Howard is branching out, and making a return to DC Comics. The Excalibur and X-Corp writer will be writing a story in December 14's Batman: Urban Legends #10 anthology.

Batman: Urban Legends #10 variant cover (Image credit: Riccardo Federici (DC))

Howard is working with artist Christian Duce on a holiday-themed story (remember, this comes out in December!) featuring Nightwing, Barbara Gordon, and the Batgirls. This short will be Howard's second published DC work, after writing a back-up story in 2016's Shade the Changing Girl #3.

This new gig would signal that Howard's 'exclusive' contract with Marvel Comics announced in March 2019 has ended. But before you X-fans get worried, a recent conversation with Howard assured Newsarama she plans to continue work at Marvel and with Krakoa.

In addition to her work at Marvel and now DC, Howard will continue to co-write Vault Comics' Vampire: The Masquerade ongoing. She also created a magic system for the upcoming 3 Worlds, 3 Moons series that'll be serialized on Jonathan Hickman's Substack Pro feed. If that wasn't enough, there's more she has to be announced in the next few months hopefully.

Howard broke into comics in 2014 by winning Top Cow's annual Talent Hunt competition and has gone on to carve out a body of work both at Marvel Comics (Excalibur, X-Corp, Thanos, Death's Head, Strikeforce) and on the creator-owned front (Euthanauts, Assassinistas). The 2020 X-Men crossover event 'X of Swords' was largely organized by Howard and Hickman.

All of Tini Howard's comic book work is available digitally. For our recommended best digital comics experience, check out our list of the best digital comics readers for Android and iOS devices.

Chris Arrant covered comic book news for Newsarama from 2003 to 2022 (and as editor/senior editor from 2015 to 2022) and has also written for USA Today, Life, Entertainment Weekly, Publisher's Weekly, Marvel Entertainment, TOKYOPOP, AdHouse Books, Cartoon Brew, Bleeding Cool, Comic Shop News, and CBR. He is the author of the book Modern: Masters Cliff Chiang, co-authored Art of Spider-Man Classic, and contributed to Dark Horse/Bedside Press' anthology Pros and (Comic) Cons. He has acted as a judge for the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, the Harvey Awards, and the Stan Lee Awards. Chris is a member of the American Library Association's Graphic Novel & Comics Round Table. (He/him)